A Virtual Universe (VU) is a computer-based simulated world or environment; other terms for VU's include metaverses, “3-D Internet” and Virtual World, and VU will be understood to represent any of these environments. Users inhabit and traverse a VU, and interact with other VU users through the use of an avatar, a graphical representation of the user often taking the form of a cartoon-like human though any graphic image may be utilized. In order to participate within or inhabit a VU, a user creates an agent which functions as the user's account, and upon which the user builds an avatar tied to an inventory of assets the user owns in the VU and associated with the agent.
VU assets, avatars, the VU environment, and anything presented to a user as visual information comprise Universally Unique Identifiers (UUID's) tied to geometric data distributed to users as textual coordinates, textures distributed to users as graphics files (in some examples as a JPEG2000 file), and effects data rendered by the user's client computer according to the user's preferences and user's computer system device capabilities. Many VU's are represented using three dimensional (3-D) graphics and landscapes and are populated by many thousands of users or “residents,” often resembling the real world or fantasy/fictional worlds in terms of physics, houses, landscapes and in interpersonal communications with other users. Examples of large robust VU's and massively multiplayer online games include SECOND LIFE® (SL) (SECOND LIFE is a trademark of Linden Research, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries), Entropia Universe™ (ENTROPIA UNIVERSE is a registered trademark of MindArk PE AB in the United States, other countries, or both), The Sims Online™ (THE SIMS ONLINE is a trademark of Electronic Arts, Inc in the United States, other countries, or both), and There™ (THERE is a trademark of Makena Technologies, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both). Such examples render and display detailed, large and complex graphic environments within which users may travel and participate as if a character in an expressionistic or fantastical fictional world or within a somewhat realistic or representational approximation of real life (e.g. Second Life®).
VU's are also commonly defined with respect to VU regions, virtual areas of land within the VU typically residing on a single server, with each region amenable to provision and management by a one or more participating providers. The size and complexity and variety of resources found in a VU are related to the number of providers participating and hosting regions through server hosting. And the success of a VU may depend upon attracting users and keeping them engaged and participating in the VU environment, thereby adding value to the providers who bear the cost in providing VU region content and services (and correspondingly expect an appropriate level of multiple-user engagement as a return on their investment), as well as for other users who wish to engage many others in a large virtual community. For example, an informational or service-related region managed by a governmental or non-profit organization may desire or expect a given level of VU user engagement and participation, and commercial region providers may desire to engage in a given level of commercial transactions (e.g. sales) or achieve a level of marketing exposure among VU users.
VU's generally offer users a wide variety of options for configuring the appearance of their avatars. Avatars need bear little resemblance to the actual real-life user represented thereby, and in fact users commonly let their imaginations run wild in selecting and configuring representative avatars. The participant can choose and customize both the basic appearance and also the attire of the avatar, including both positive and offensive appearances. The participant also controls the actions, behavior, and interactions of his/her avatar with other participants, including both positive and offensive behaviors. In one aspect a user's avatar represents an extension of the user into a unique VU world, and the experience for the user may be enhanced in proportion to the degree with which the engagement of his avatar with other avatars in the VU utilizes interpersonal communication skills honed and developed in real-world, interpersonal person engagements.
Users often adopt avatar persona that bear little resemblance to their real-life physical features, including adopting avatars of the opposite sex. Users who maintain an outwardly conservative real-life persona may adopt an aggressive or extreme avatar appearance, for example a parent of four small children or the local Parent-Teacher Association president may select a “punk” avatar with provocative clothing and impossible or fanciful pierced jewelry and hair arrangements. Moreover, some users may select non-human avatars, such as cartoon, animal characters, robots or otherwise inanimate objects configured to animate as living entities. Although freedom in selecting and configuring avatar appearances beyond the normal constraints of real-life appearance options may be enjoyable and liberating to a user, protecting fanciful or extreme avatar attributes may create problems. More specifically, a user who has adopted an extreme avatar persona (for example, a suggestive or provocatively attired human avatar or a character associated with violent or illegal activities) may offend other virtual universe users who find such appearance attributes offensive or inappropriate in the (virtual universe) public domain. Negative behavioral aspects of a fanciful or extreme avatar character may also be imputed to the represented user: for example, other virtual universe users may get the impression that the user represented by the avatar engages in improper activities such as illegal drug use, and if the identity of a real-life user represented by an extreme avatar becomes known by the user's employer, parent, neighbor, teacher, local school principal, etc., the real-life user may suffer embarrassment or other negative repercussions, such as negative job performance ratings or even job loss.
Users who find the appearance of another user's avatar offensive or objectionable generally have little or no recourse to cure the offensive/objectionable attribute appearance. For example, a religiously or socially conservative user who objects strongly to immodest dress in public domains may be offended by avatars appearing in revealing or sexually provocative clothing configurations, and may stop participating in VU's where such behavior occurs. Public and private corporate entities organizations and associations also generally desire to protect their reputation, and reduce exposure to vicarious liability through the actions of their employees, members, etc., and thus also generally desire to avoid associations of their representatives with disreputable avatar characters in the public domains defined within the VU environment.
In another aspect, it may be difficult for users to remember the appearance of other user avatars, and thus to recognize the avatars of other users known to the user, which may result in embarrassing lapses in appropriate greetings. And even where the appearance of an avatar may be remembered, as users may frequently change avatar appearances a user may fail to recognize an avatar with a revised appearance, perhaps inadvertently insulting the otherwise-known user who wrongly thinks that he should have been recognized and is being snubbed.